Mark Ellwood's Brainy Blog of Fascinating Facts and Timely Tips

Our time study data indicates that the average employee spends 19% of his or her time on administrative tasks.

This increases to 25% for managers. For many of them, delegation of some tasks would free up more time for high priority activities.

But employees make all kinds of excuses for not delegating. They justify their inefficiency through beliefs that are unfounded. If you want to make better use of your time, you’ll get more done through delegation. Catch yourself when you say one of the following. Often, the opposite is true!

I don’t know if I can trust her to do it.

I could do it better myself. He isn’t qualified to do it.

She doesn’t want any added responsibilities.

I don’t have the time to show anyone how to do it.

There is no one else to delegate to.

He already has enough to do.

I like doing this task, or I’m the only person who knows how to do it.

She messed up last time, so I’m not giving her anything else to do.

Assume that most people want added responsibilities (don’t you?). Assume they are keen to learn. Recognizes that the short term training investment will pay off in the long term.

Look around. Even though you’re not the boss, there are people who will help you if you approach them in the right way.

WHAT TO DELEGATE:

Items that can be eliminated. If you shouldn’t be doing an activity, then perhaps you shouldn’t be giving the activity away to others. Eliminate it.

Minor decisions that can be found in policy

Fact-finding assignments

Preparation of rough drafts of reports

Problem analysis and suggested actions

Collection of data for reports

Photocopying, printing, collating

Data entry

Email sorting

Things you are good at and do too much of

Things that aren’t part of your core competency. For small businesses, these include accounting, web site design, deliveries, hardware upkeep, software help, graphic design, travel arrangements, patenting, legal issues and even HR functions such as payroll.

PLANNING

Invest short term time in training to gain a long term increase in productivity.

Others may end up doing a better job than you can or finding new ways to complete a task.

Delegate, don’t abdicate. Someone else can do the task, but you’re still responsible for the completion of it, and for managing the delegation process.

Delegate to the right person. Don’t always give tasks to the strongest, most experienced or first available person.

Spread delegation around and give people new experiences as part of their training.

Obtain feedback from employees to ensure they feel they’re being treated appropriately. A simple “How’s it going with that new project?” might be all that’s needed.

Be sure to delegate the authority along with the responsibility. Don’t make people come back to you for too many minor approvals.

Trust people to do well and don’t look over their shoulders or check up with them along the way, unless they ask.

Be prepared to trade short-term errors for long term results.

DELEGATION INSTRUCTIONS

Delegate the objective, not the procedure. Outline the desired results, not the methodology. What needs to be done and when should it be finished?

Make sure the standards and the outcome are clear. To what degree of quality or detail?

Clarify the decision-making authority the delegate has.

Outline the resources available.

Ask if there is anything else they need to get started. They’ll tell you. (This can save you time spent showing them.)

Ask people to provide progress reports. Set interim deadlines to see how things are going.

If appropriate, let others know who is in charge of the task.

Give praise and feedback at the end of the project, and additional responsibilities.

Always look for opportunities to delegate, even when there appears to be no obvious person to delegate to. There usually is. Your time is worth it.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

Have you got six minutes? Here’s a punchy radio interview with some practical tips for managing your time. Along with the tips, you’ll hear time study insights from our work measurement and process improvement projects. Give it a listen, and share it with your colleagues. Your time is worth it !

(Click on the link below, and wait a few seconds for the file to load.)

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

Sometimes it is difficult to say no. An urgent request comes your way and it has to get done. Right now. Yesterday if possible. If you could say no and turn down the request, you’d have more time for the things that count. But the situation demands action and you can’t refuse. You’re not too happy about it. In that case, you might just have to say yes. But when you do, take control of the situation rather than letting it take control of you. Provide suggestions or alternatives to the person making the request. “I can help you by finding out who really should be doing this,” or, “How about if I show you how to do that and then you’ll be all set to go.”

Or, agree to the request this time. But ask how the two of you might plan better to avoid a rush the next time.

Another strategy is to tell the person “yes”, but remind them that they owe you one. For example, if you have to fill in for them at work, they might reciprocate by covering you for a shift the next time you need time off.

You can’t always say no, but you can you can take control by setting the timetable on your own terms. For instance say, “OK, I think I can squeeze that in. I expect I’ll be able to get it to you by four o’clock today. Does that work?” Set the schedule rather than letting someone set it for you.

Finally, consider putting a tough condition on your agreement. “If it would only take an hour, I’d be able to help, but I can’t give you more than that.” When in doubt, it’s easier to say no now, and then change your mind to a yes later, rather than the other way around.

So take control and manage those interuptions. After all, your time is worth it.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

One reason that people dislike meetings is that they are not well planned.

If you are the chair for the meeting, some preparation steps can make a big difference. And even if you are not the chair, you can ask that these be done.

Writing an agenda in advance forces you to determine which items you want to cover. You can also use the agenda to communicate to participants what they will be considering and what is expected of them. An agenda helps create order and control at the meeting. Ideally, those attending should have a copy in advance.

If you are not in charge, approach the chair beforehand to make sure there is an agenda and that your items are on the list for discussion.

The most important item on the agenda is the purpose of the meeting. You should be able to state it in one succinct sentence, such as, “To review and approve details of the annual budget.” Keep the list of items to be covered specific and focused. Ask yourself what you expect to happen after each item is finished.

Of course, the agenda needs to include the time, the place, and the names of those who will be attending and the start and end times. End times are rarely included, but when they are, you can bring some urgency to the meeting by counting down the time remaining, especially when items run long.

Consider starting meetings at unconventional times. Time study research that we conducted indicates that meetings tend to start more on time on the half hour, rather than on the hour. Also, if you want a short meeting, schedule it for later in the day. Our time studies show that meetings are shorter later in the day. Business has a tendency to move quickly as five o’clock approaches.

A few days before the meeting, send out the meeting invitation and agenda. Some people wonder whether they should send a follow up confirmation – often this is just a waste of valuable time.

If you’re unable to circulate an agenda in advance, write it on a flip chart or white board before participants arrive. Or give everyone a printed copy.

Meetings become dysfunctional when homework has not been done in advance. Attendees debate issues back and forth based on their impressions, feelings, biases, recollections, and quite often their loud voices. Instead, they need to come to the meeting armed with reports, research, recommendations, surveys, and conclusions from prior discussions. So as chair, encourage attendees to do this work in advance. Then, the meeting agenda will accept reports and recommendations rather than trying to formulate them. “Rubber stamping” a recommendation is not a bad thing. It works effectively when adequate homework has been done.

The investment you take to plan meetings thoroughly will result in meetings that people want to attend. Your time is worth it.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

Employees who spend more time planning generally get better results.

This is based on evidence from our work measurement studies where employees track their time using our TimeCorder device. So make time for planning each day. Here is my favorite tip on how to do it – just two minutes long

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

It is so easy to put something off that doesn’t matter. Or at least, you think it doesn’t matter. Maybe not today. But someday it will. That aching toothache you think might just go away. The overdue taxes that maybe they won’t check up on.

All of these catch up some day. That’s when the trouble really begins.

So you need to avoid procrastination in order to prevent these negative consequences. One way to do it involves adding accountability. You need to be accountable to yourself. You can do this by writing your tasks on a to-do list. When you include items that you have been putting off, you begin to create accountability. As you do your work during the day, you glance at your to-do list and see that outstanding item. You have committed to doing it. So the time to do it is now.

At the end of the day, review your to-do list. Did you meet all of the goals that you set for the day? Did you get all the tasks done that you said you would? If not, what got in the way? An external factor that was unavoidable? Or your own procrastination? The temptation is to re-write the task on tomorrow’s to-do list. After all, you’ll get to it then. But that’s the problem. You don’t get to it. So there is a danger in repeating tasks on successive to-do lists. If your own disinterest caused you to put it off, writing it down yet again won’t change things. Instead, write down a small part of the task that you could very easily do. For instance, you need to clean up your basement. You haven’t yet. However, you could certainly go down there and list all of the boxes you need to go through. And if doing your taxes is too daunting, how about simply gathering up all of your tax receipts and putting them into a pile? It’s a start.

There is another even more powerful way to build accountability. And that is being accountable to someone else.

Take a task you have been procrastinating on. Break it into small pieces and choose the first step. Then make a deadline. When are you going to accomplish it? And what will it look like when you finish? You can’t just say, “Work on a project…” Instead, you need to say, “Complete the research from three sources required for the project…”

Now, here is the all important accountability step. Let someone else know what you plan to do. And ask them to check up on you. It could be a spouse, partner, parent, boyfriend, girlfriend, neighbor, work buddy – anyone. It’s helpful, but not necessary that they have a stake in the task. If you need to do a household repair, then telling your spouse is a good idea, because your spouse will benefit from the task being done.

So stop procrastinating. Build accountability. Find a buddy and get stuff done.

Your time is worth it.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

Our time study research indicates that employees spend 3.3 hours per week on miscellaneous email messages that are not connected with any of their main projects. That’s a massive amount of time that could easily be reduced. Here are some tips for handling email better.

PLANNING TO WRITE EMAIL

If you are concerned about the volume of email you receive, remember, it’s not them, it’s all of us who are guilty. If you send out 2 emails, and copy 20 people on each, you have contributed to the glut of email by sending out 40 emails yourself!

Do not copy people needlessly. Ask yourself why you are copying everyone – if it is to make you look good, it probably is not necessary.

Ask employees who report to you not to cc you, unless they include a short note explaining why they are copying you.

Hire someone to go through your email when you are on vacation and eliminate what is obviously unnecessary.

Use the phone instead of sending an email. If you find yourself typing a lot and telling a “story”, then it is better to call.

It is very difficult to convince others through email, especially when you know that they already have entrenched positions. Find another way.

The best use of email is for short transactions: “Here is the document you requested,” “When is the meeting?”, “Can you provide an answer to a question”, etc.

Just say no. If you’re on a mailing list for which you have no interest, reply by unsubscribing.

Unsubscribe from newsletters. If you want to learn something, take a course. If you are hoping that occasionally some useful tidbit will come through on a newsletter, then you are wasting your time. Unsubscribe.

Consider carefully what you write; it’s a permanent record and can be easily forwarded to others. Never accuse people, call them names, suggest they aren’t being smart or criticize their spelling. Assume their intentions are genuine and that they are good people. Be polite and assertive if necessary (i.e. to spammers) but not vindictive.

Write succinctly.

Write descriptive subject lines. Many busy people will only open messages with captivating subject lines. Think creatively.

If you must forward a message, put your comments at the top.

Do not keep all of your messages in your mail box folder. Create new mail folders with names that categorize your mail and move messages into them. Thus, new mail is quicker to find.

Create folders for : Things to do, Upcoming Events, Manager Issues, Subordinate Issues, Reading, Family, and folders for each of your major customers.

Be careful with punctuation. A lot of periods can separate thoughts….. but use a lot of exclamation marks and it looks like you’re angry!!!!!!!!!! How does a line of question marks look ??????? You might not intend strong emotion, but the other person might think you do.

Avoid cyber-speak. Not everyone is familiar with the cute acronyms used in Email correspondence, such as IMHO (in my humble opinion) or FWIW (for what it’s worth). Performing a mental translation each time slows down the reader. Do not make reading difficult for them.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

Where does all the time go? Long hours. Late nights. Snatched lunches. Some people boast about their overwhelming work schedule as if it’s a badge of honor: “I start work at 7:00 a.m. and work right though until 8:00 p.m.” Often their Herculean claims border on the absurd. “Last night I went to bed at three a.m. and had to get up two hours earlier to finish a report.” Or, “I used to eat lunch at my desk. But I need to save more time, so I’m giving up eating…”

The problem is NOT that there isn’t enough time. Time doesn’t expand. The problem is that people burden themselves with too many activities. The key to success is how you allocate your time to the important ones. In time study research we’ve conducted for clients, average employees spend about 50% of their time on A and B priorities. But among the top performers, time spent on A and B priorities approaches 60%. That’s an increase of 5 hours per week that can make all the difference.

Here’s how to think about setting priorities. “A” activities are those that influence long term results. Ask yourself, if you had nothing else to do tomorrow, what would you do to affect your results one month from now? Those are your “A” activities. For sales people, this means selling, which usually only amounts to 23% of their time. For managers this means supervising people, (18% of their time) and planning (7%). What should you be doing? Your top priority items should take up 15-30% of your time.

When you think of your high priority activities, don’t just say, “I’ll work on the budget” or “I’ll work on my recruiting plan.” Be specific by listing activities you can complete today. You can’t do the entire budget, but you can set up a spreadsheet for salaries. You can’t recruit a new hire today, but you can review and update the job profile.

“B” priorities are the activities in your job description that must get done today. These are the things that keep you busy. Depending on your job, they might include providing customer service, running monthly meetings, preparing reports, designing products, inputting data, supervising staff or shipping products. For most people, “B” priorities represent 30-50% of their time. These are the activities most people do well in their job. But they’re also the things that prevent them from getting to the “A’s”. That’s why you need to plan the “A’s” first.

“C” priorities are those unplanned or unwritten aspects of your job that have to be done. Whereas “A” activities are planned by you, “C” activities are often planned for you. They include department meetings, routine requests from your subordinates and inquiries from other departments. They also include administrative activities such as filling out expense reports, reading reports, filing and sorting through e-mail. Our research indicates that administrative tasks take up 20-25% of the time. Within this, paperwork alone can take 5 hours per week. If you’re spending more than that, the system is bogging you down.

Travel is also a “C” priority. It has to be done, but isn’t a key factor in the success of your job. And, let’s not forget lunches and breaks. It’s ironic how people will plan a lunch meeting or coffee break to the minute. Yet they never get around to planning their major projects. Breaks are necessary, and incubation time away from work can help you solve problems better. But breaks are still just “C” priorities.

Finally there are “D” activities. This means delete, delay, delegate or drop. Get rid of them. They include reading the paper, handling tasks that should be delegated, and excessive Internet surfing. Some of them are technological time hogs; fixing a photocopier paper jam, waiting for a computer to boot up or recording a new voice mail message every day. Beware of them. Miscellaneous time can be as much as 5% of the week.

So how do you spend more time on for your high priorities? First, take the time to plan for them. Set aside the same time every day to plan your daily activities. Choose a quiet time when you can review past accomplishments, as well as future things to do. Then write down a list of A, B, and C activities that relate to your goals. Write your list in your time planner, on an app or even on a Post-It note. Include specific activities, such as “Prepare exhibits for monthly report,” rather than vague tasks such as “Work on report.” Later, when you’ve completed an item, check it off. Doing this gives you a sense of accomplishment, even for small tasks.

Block your time. Schedule time for your “A” activities first. Plan to do them when you’re at your peak and when interruptions are least likely to occur. Make an appointment in your planner, and allocate that time for high priority activities. Then, if someone asks you to meet during that time, say “Sorry, I have an appointment.” No one will ask whom it’s with. It’s an appointment with yourself.

Then it’s time to start by working on your A items. They should always come first. Don’t work on a C just because it’s easy to do. And if you find your A tasks are overwhelming, or if you don’t think you have enough time to do anything on an A priority, the activity is too broad. Break your A priorities into small manageable chunks, so they’re easy to accomplish. Even with just five minutes left before lunch or before an appointment, you should be able to make some progress on an A priority. Your time is worth it.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.

Have you ever heard of the SMART formula?

When time begins to rush at you quickly, do you know where you are headed? The goals you set for tomorrow are your pictures of success. By setting them today, you aim your activities in the right direction. But a goal should not be just, “I want to lose weight,” or “I hope to be rich someday.” Those goals are too vague. They’re like New Year’s resolutions—well-intentioned wishes that are short on substance. So use a handy acronym known as the SMART formula to clarify your goals. There are different variations on this formula. I have looked at them all and made a subtle change to the acronym that I think works better. The acronym of the SMART formula stands for Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic and Timely.

Specific

Goals such as being happy, getting rich or having a good time lack specificity. But when they focus on more concrete aims such as getting married, reducing accounts receivable or taking regular vacations, they take on more definition. Being specific also means being focused. Many people find themselves frustrated because “there are just too many things to do and not enough time.” They can’t get more time, but they can specify fewer goals.

The s in “specificity” also stands for “substantial.” It means a goal is concrete and worthy of pursuit. You might decide that cleaning up your desk is a goal. But it’s not the sort of lifetime accomplishment you would want to be praised for in your epitaph. If cleanliness is an issue, then certainly establish a goal to improve. But put it in context with more important pursuits. What will you be proud of five years from now? If you had to write a resume right now, what would you want to put in it? Your accomplishments would be based on goals that are specific and substantial.

Measurable

The second criterion a goal should meet is measurability. State your goal in a way that an outside observer could measure it objectively. For instance, “We will reduce delinquent accounts by one third,” or “I will take two vacations this year,” or “I will stop smoking in two months.”

Something that is important can be measured with more than one goal. For instance, a sales rep might aim for specific sales dollars, profit for the territory, introductions of new products and an increase in distribution channels. It’s possible that she would be successful in one criterion, but not in another. Multiple goals provide greater perspective.

Appropriate

An appropriate goal is within your area of power or responsibility. Don’t try to work on someone else’s goals. Appropriate goals are also consistent with your organization’s aims, culture or standards. For instance, it’s difficult to have a goal of increasing customer satisfaction levels while simultaneously introducing discount pricing.

Appropriate goals also relate to your personal style. What are you capable of accomplishing, given your background, your skills, your training or your physical limitations? People who are only five feet tall have little chance of making the Olympic basketball team.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t extend yourself. It is possible to go beyond anything you’ve done before, and to push yourself past the limits you thought were unsurpassable. It ispossible to stretch your imagination to conquer heights you thought were unreachable. Allow your dreams to flourish. But make sure you have the appropriate resources, time and makeup to turn your dreams into reality.

Goals should also be appropriate to each other. For some businesses, a goal to increase sales by 20% by the end of the quarter may be inappropriate with simultaneously reducing bad debt accounts. In many cases, one or the other can happen, but not both.

Realistic

Goals should be a bit of a stretch, but not so much as to be out of reach. A goal might be achievable within the next three months, but this deadline may be unrealistic, given the other constraints you’re facing. In your business, don’t aim for a market share that is simply not going to happen. Often new businesses will make claims that seem to be very modest; a very conservative 1% share would satisfy them. In reality, that’s a huge amount!

How do you know what is realistic? Look for relevant comparisons. Examine historical trends. What has been done in the past? Or look at economic indicators. What are the trends for the future? Or industry trends. What has the competition been able to achieve? Has someone else embarked on a similar journey whose results might indicate what is possible?

A dose of good old gut feeling also helps. Tripling your salary in your current job by the end of this year is a specific and measurable goal. But it’s not very realistic if you’re earning minimum wage by washing dishes at the local greasy spoon. In that case, perhaps your goal should be to find a higher-paying job or to start your own business.

Timely

Put a deadline on your goals—this Saturday, the end of the month, the end of the year, your fiftieth birthday, whatever. Start with the end in mind. What will the final picture of success look like and when do you want it to happen? By determining the end time, you can then work your way back to see what you need to do on the way. The challenge you might face is that your goal seems overwhelming. You just don’t know where to begin. If that’s the case, break your larger goal into smaller ones.

One extra letter for the SMART formula…

Perhaps the SMART formula should have one extra letter, and that is “p” for “passion.” Pursue your goals with passion! Don’t become complacent about not meeting them. For example, saying, “We didn’t meet our goal last month, but that’s all right, we’ll make up for it,” should never be good enough. Rework your goals if necessary, but pursue them with a renewed vigour and with a sincere desire to succeed. Always give it your best, and then some. InWho’s Running Your Career, Caela Farren says, “Passion and purpose go hand in hand. Passion is the fire in the belly, the willpower, the courage you harness to achieve your mission despite all the obstacles and reversals.” Go for it!

Your time is worth it.

Mark Ellwood is president of Pace Productivity, an international consulting firm that specializes in improving corporate productivity. His passionate mission is to improve people and processes through consulting and training.